Header construction



June 8, 1954 B. sPlETH 2,680,632

HEADER CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 1, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l @ep/ezmlm 29272@J n ik June 8, 1954 B. sPlE'rH HEADER CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Shea?l 2Filed Oct. l, 1947 Patented June 8, 1954 .UNITED -S TAT-ES FTENT -OFFflC.Applicationctober 1, 1947-, SerialNo. 777,335

1 Claim. .1

Thisinvention relates primarily toheating ele ments for convectionheaters, where economy in the .cost `of manufacture is of importance.While this disclosure -deals primarily with the headers .for heatingelements of convectors, -it will ybe found that my invention isapplicable to other .devices as well.

A. heating element of .the type ordinarily used in convection heaters,have fluid conducting .tubes connected to headers, one header arranged.to-connect with a steam or hot water supply pipe, 1theother toa returnpipe.

Due to the nature ,of a heating element, it is -usually constructed oflight gage, and relatively 4expensive materials, such as copper andbrass. Such materials are used due to their Vgreat co3- Vductivity andalso their resistance to corrosion.

The ynature of the former headersis such that .acomplicated part isrequired to connect .all the iluid conducting tubes into the supplypipe. `Usually a casting is specied for this duty. But 4considerableexpense is .required tomould, cast, clean, inspect, test and machinecastings. Furthermore, the walls must be relatively thick vto .permitthe molten metal to ow in a mould withyout-freezing, and to produce asound casting, and lthe weight41 and dependent cost, is in proportion tothe wall thickness. Any casting tends ,to be brittle yand will notwithstandas .much pressure :as `parts of lthe esame basic material thathave been drawnor rolled. Furthermore, commercialfly, acertain'percentage of castings `have porous spots, which `resultinobjectionable leaks. ASuch .leaks must be repaired. In the repairingoperation the casting must be heated slowly, andievenly to preventdistortional strains andresultant cracking. When a suflcient temperatureis reached the porous area may be brazed. YThen .the casting must be.slowly cooled .and retested to make certain that the leakhasbeenstopped. It is obvious thatsuch an operation is costly.

lMy invention provides a header fabricated lfrom forged drawn, or-rolledstock, whichis ordinarily a dense and homogeneous product. For *egual.strength therwalls may be thinner, and :since the cost per poundofcastings is ordinarily greater, a considerable saving is made.

.My inventionvfurther adapts itself to .produc- `tion of certainelements from long rods on a screw machine, Vwhere production is vhighand *labor 4cost at a minimum. `Other yelements ,may be'produced onpunchpresses, or cartridge type fpresses. or high .Speed spinning-machines,where production rates 'are high. And .lastly the as- ;sembly'of the:header may-be :madeon an auto- Z matically heated, conveyor type ofbrazing machine, with close control and regulation.

Since the parts may be made of cylindrical form which mechanically isthe most desirable form for pressures, an assembly of sufficientstrength to resist the pressures ordinarily encountered in heatingsystems, can be made of relatively light gage materials.

Another object of the invention is to provide a header construction thatmay be installed with either side up.

Another object is to provide a -header body .produced from a rod in partand preferably of an octagonal form so'that it may be held by amechanics wrench.

Another object is to provide sub-headers-that project in diametricallyopposite directions from the header body andareadapted to be-connected.with fluid condtlcting tubes.

Another object is to provide a header construcvtion 'that maybeconnected to uid conducting tubes without the necessity of providingelbows or elbow bends.

With .these and other objects and advantages ,inviewthis inventionconsists in the several novel `.features hereinafter fully described andmore rparticularly defined in the .appended claim.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the draw- .ings accompanyingthis specification 4in which:

Fig. 1 is a .View partly in plan and partly in .horizontal section of aheader constructionembodying a simple form of the present `invention`and showing its application to fragments of a .convection heating unit;

Fig. 2 is a `View .partly in side elevation and :partly inv verticalsection taken along the line V2--2 of Fig...1;

Fig. 3 is a central vertical Vlongitudinal section taken'along the line3 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 1.1. isa side elevation partly broken out illustrating `a vslightlymodified `iorrn of a lheader construction;

Fig..5 is a view partly in runder plan and partly .in .section of theheader construction seen in Fig. 4;

Fig. Y6 is :a vertical cross section taken on the .linezS-B of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the sub-headers shown in .-fFig. 4 :butillustrating `the'same upon ka greatly reduced scale; and

Fig. 8 is a side elevation off-a second modi-ned form of sub-header ona'reducedscale.

Referring to fsaid drawings-and first to Figs. l to 3 inclusive, theyreference character 8 designates the header body of thepresent headerconacsdsa struction, which header body, if desired, may be of octagonalform as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. EX- tending up part way through theheader body is an axial bore 9, the walls of which are threaded as seenat ill for the reception of a iiuid conducting pipe Il. Extendingtransversely of the header body adjacent its upper end is a stepped boreI2 which intersects the bore 9.

Secured in the transverse bore are tubular extensions I3 which providesub-headers for the header construction; the ends l5 of the tubularextensions I3 are closed and in the wall of each tubular extension is anopening i5 from the edge of which extends a ange I6 which as apreference enters the interior of the tubular extension.

These tubular extensions or sub-headers may be formed of sheet metalproduced on punch presses or cartridge type presses, or high speedspinning machines.

When used in a heating element, tubes i1 are received in the openings i5of the sub-headers (see Figs. 1 and 2), and a tube le is received in anopening i9 formed in the header body, which opening leads the axial bore9.

As is customary, heat radiating fins 2G are strung along the tubes andas shown may be brazed to side frame members 2i of a convection heatingelement, as is more fully shown and described in my application forpatent on Heating Element for Convection Heaters, Serial No. 776,363,filed on September 26, 1947, and now U. S. Patent 2,545,561 grantedMarch 20, 1951. A supporting plate 22 is brazed to the side framemembers at each end thereof and provides means by which the heatingelement is supported in a cabinet.

The header at the other end of the convection heater may be of the sameconstruction as the one shown, or it may be of any other suitable typeof header construction.

In the modified form of header construction shown in Figs. 4 to 7inclusive, the header body 23 may be formed substantially like the oneshown in Figs. l, 2, 3, with an axial bore 24, and with a transversebore 25 intersecting the same.

Extending through the transverse bore 25 is a tubular member 26 closedat both ends 2t and providing two sub-headers 21. At its middle portionthe tubular member 2t is formed with a V-shaped opening 23 (see Fig. 7),which establishes communication between the sub-headers and the axialbore in the header body.

The wall of the tubular member 2G at the sides of the header body, isformed with V-shaped openings 28, and brazed or otherwise rigidlysecured to the wall oi said tubular member, around the openings 28 areadapters 3G which are formed with hollow connections 3l for tubes, whichconnections extend from channel shaped iianges 32 that are formed on theadapters and partially surround the sub-headers and are brazed thereto.If desired, slots 33 may be formed in the flanges 32 in which bodies obrazing material may be received. The header body 23 is formed with anopening 34 in one side wall and the tubular member 2S and adapters Ii@are each formed with a flanged opening 35 for the reception of uidconducting tubes 36.

In this form of construction there may be three or more fluid conductingtubes arranged in one plane and two or more other fluid conducting tubesarranged in a different plane.

Steam or hot water enters the header body through the supply pipe andflows through the sub-headers to the tubes l1. Steam or hot water 4 alsoflows from the header body to the tube I8. although this tube may beomitted if desired. The steam or hot water flows through the tubes tothe outlet header, and the condensate discharges therefrom as is wellunderstood.

As illustrated in Fig. 8 of the drawing, a header such as thatillustrated in Figs. l, 2, and 3 may be constructed in a manner similarto the header illustrated in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, in which form of theinvention the sub-headers or tubular extensions may be formed from asingle piece of material. Thus the member 43a illustrated in Fig. 8corresponds to the member 26 illustrated in Fig. I with the exceptionthat the intermediate connections are eliminated and the member 13a isformed with two openings 15a. adapted to receive the fluid conductingtubes Il' illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. With this construction themember I3a is provided with an opening 13b corresponding to the opening28 in the member 26 and is inserted in the header body in the samemanner as the member 26 in the header body 23. It will be noted that, ineither case, the header so formed is provided with a pair of tubularextensions extending outwardly from opposite sides of the header body,which tubular extensions may be formed from either two separate pieces,as illustrated in Figs. l to 3 inclusive, or a single piece, asillustrated in Figs. 4 to 7 inclusive and 8. Likewise it will beapparent that the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 may beutilized in connection with a heating element employing more than threeiiuid conducting tubes as, for example, by extending the length oi thetubular extensions i3 and utilizing the hollow connections 3! for thesecond and fourth tubes.

It is to be understood that the sub-headers and tubes are brazed to theheader, and that the nns are brazed to the tubes and to the side framemembers.

From the above it is apparent that I have provided a headerconstruction, capable o1" being constructed of stock material, free fromporous spots, pin holes or other poten ial leaking places. It is simplein construction and highly efficient in operation. Furthermore, thenecessity of using elbows or elbow bends between the tubes and header isentirely eliminated.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that variousimmaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing fromthe spirit of my invention; hence, I do vnot wish to be understood aslimiting myself to the exact form, construction, arrangement andcombination of parts herein shown and described or uses mentioned.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a convection heater of the type comprising spaced fluid conductingtubes and rin elements mounted thereon in heat exchange relationship, a'header construction comprising a relatively heavy solid metal headerbody having two bores intersecting substantially at right angles, one otwhich provides a through passage the other being closed at one end andprovided with internal threads at the other end for detachably receivinga fluid connection, said other end having av noncircular wrench engagingportion, a pair of similar relatively thin tubular sub-headers extendingoppositely outwardly from said header body at the outer termini of saidthrough passage and communicating with the interior of said body andhaving their inner portions rigidly secured to said body at said terminiand their outer ends closed, each of said sub-headers being providedwith a lateral aperture having an inwardly eX- tending tubular flange,said body being provided with an aperture communicating with the saidother of said intersecting bores and having its axis oiset from andextending parallel to the axes of the inwardly extending tubular flangesof the apertures of said sub-headers, all of said apertures operativelycommunicating with the interior of said body and being normal to theplane of said bores, and the apertures of said sub-headers and saidheader being adapted to receive therein for rigid assembly therewith theends of said fluid conducting tubes.

Name Date Miller et al Mar. 20, 1906 Number Number Number 6 Name DateHaskins July l0, 1906 Schwieger June 8, 1909 Jones Aug. 14, 1928 ReigartFeb. 17, 1931 Modine June 16, 1931 McIntyre Dec. 26, 1933 TempletonSept. 18, 1934 Peters Jan. 19, 1937 Minor et al. Oct. 25, 1938 SibleyJuly 4, 1939 Fischer Apr. 1, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date GermanyDec. 27, 1921 France Sept. 3, 1928

